Among the Wildflowers
by SimpleCinema
Summary: Rise Kujikawa and Ann Takamaki are on a modeling tour together, and after an eventful night of partying at a hotel, the two girls have to come to terms with some personal revelations.


"You okay?" Rise asked as she took a bite of her omelet.

The hotel food and accommodations were stellar, as was the case with most places they stayed. Rise had chosen things that were incredibly on-brand of her: omelet, strawberries, a serving-size box of Lucky Charms, and a glass of fat free milk. Ann, however, felt like she had been hit by a large truck and then subsequently steamrolled, and opted for a single cup of black coffee.

It was interesting because Ann never had black coffee before, she was always more of a latte person. She had an affinity for sweets so she typically stayed away from coffee of the plainer sorts. The only reason she got some was because she knew it was what people drank when they felt as aggressively shitty as she did. It tasted positively awful, it was all she could do not to physically recoil upon a first sip, but she didn't want to act unsightly in front of Rise- even if Rise really couldn't care less. She had drank around half the cup at that point, gradually adjusting to the taste. It matched how she felt, so it was easy to get used to.

"Yeah, just tired," Ann answered.

She wasn't lying, that much was true. Blatantly a 'not the whole truth' kind of scenario, but it would do for now. She wasn't sure if Rise believed her, but she seemed her usual chipper self, so maybe she hadn't quite fully caught on yet. Though she did always have a sneaking suspicion that Rise was far more observant than she appeared, a suspicion that wasn't grounded in any identifiable truth, but it preyed on her anxiety nonetheless.

Rise stared at Ann for a moment, who didn't immediately notice as she was mostly just staring at the table in front of them. There were enough people awake in the dining area to make staring listlessly in the wrong direction feel invasive, so she had to mind herself. Rise however didn't care if people were paying attention to her or not, that was something she got used to long ago. Ann looked as if she might be looking at the table for hours, and even in such a sad state, she managed to still appear somewhat radiant to Rise in the morning glow. They were sitting in the corner of the large room, and Ann's back was to a window, which glorious sunshine poured from, giving the blonde girl a halo of light. Suddenly, for once, it was Rise who felt self conscious. She sat up straight, composing herself before speaking.

"Ann... something's bothering you. Are you upset with me?" She asked with a pout.

Ann could never properly read the redhead. She could shift gears mood-wise at the drop of a hat, and had a very clear visage she maintained around people she wasn't familiar with or comfortable around. There was Rise the model and public personality, and Rise the person, but the two weren't TERRIBLY far apart from each other. By all accounts, both versions of the girl were bright, bubbly, and enthusiastic. They both enjoyed many of the same things, and many times would make the exact same choices. Ann, on the other hand, was careful. She had only been a model, only seen and captured in photographs and videos, that didn't require her to develop anything that was an extension of herself. She was simply Ann, who was constantly jealous of Rise's lack of filter or stunning confidence. She was shy, and while not timid, she was hardly outspoken. She was talkative and lively- but only with those who she trusted. To her everlasting chagrin, Rise had become one of those people in the last year.

This lead to many statements being a bit of an enigma to her. When Rise said things in her slightly disappointed tone of voice, she couldn't gage how serious she was. Was she ACTUALLY concerned for Ann, or was she just being playful because Ann was being a bit dull? She didn't know, but she tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. Contrary to popular belief, Rise was not an idiot, she was just particularly aloof and had almost zero shame about it.

However, she was glad she didn't have to be the one to bring this up.

"No I'm not angry with you. I just... don't really know what to do," she answered honestly.

Rise took a bite of her cereal, processing the answer and ultimately ended up furrowing her brow.

"Don't know what to do?" She asked.

Ann nodded. This was going to be exceptionally difficult. She knew where this was headed, and refused to be any shade of optimistic about it. No sense in getting her hopes up just to be crushed in the end.

"Yes," Ann said calmly, "I'm not sure I feel... I don't know. I feel really awkward,"

Rise's pout turned into an expression that resembled abject primal fear.

"Oh shit," she whispered, "I'm sorry... I didn't know... I must've gotten carried away-"

Ann shook her head immediately. She was already being misunderstood. She didn't need to heap any unnecessary worry onto Rise.

"No no no, of course not. Just-"

She took a minute to compose herself, taking a deep breath. Rise hung onto the pause in the sentence like her life depended on it.

"Look," Ann began, leaning in a bit, "Just come to my room when you're done with breakfast so we can talk about this. Okay?"

Rise felt a pit form in her stomach. Despite Ann's reassurance, she felt like she was responsible for her friend's sour mood.

"Yeah sure," Rise said in the tiniest voice possible.

Ann detected a hint of remorse in her face and didn't know how long she could look at that. She swiftly downed the remainder of her coffee, which felt a bit like drinking lukewarm topsoil mixed with water, and left, leaving her mug at the proper station. She headed towards the elevator, wanting to escape the sensation of Rise's eyes on her. She avoided eye contact so she wasn't certain of if, but she could feel the other girl's gaze, worryingly staring as her friend walked away.

She looked forward to an hour from then when this charade could be over with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rise didn't have the heart to finish her food. After Ann left, she was all that she thought about. Granted, she had been on her mind a lot that morning, so the shift wasn't exactly huge, but it was the tone in which she thought of her that altered. She had been secretly worried that what happened the night before might make Ann feel uncomfortable, and potentially become something that could jeopardize their friendship. However, if she could have avoided opening that wound, she would. She did as she always did, played it like nothing had happened in the hopes that Ann would be just fine and that nothing would change at all, despite Rise knowing that wasn't exactly true for her. But her own feelings didn't matter, she was far too concerned with Ann.

Ann had looked more morose than she had ever seen the blue-eyed girl look. She was naturally not a morning person, so appearing bright and sunny at 9am wasn't exactly something she expected from her, but this was different. Ann looked like she was hungover, which was possible, or had been crying. Perhaps maybe even both. She had bags under her eyes that were almost never there, and she hardly smiled at all in the hour they'd been awake. Ann's smile was one of Rise's favorite things about her, so it was obvious to her when it wasn't present. Even though she wasn't totally sure what the problem was, she knew what it stemmed from, which caused the pit in her stomach to become more of a proper void that made her want to take a trip to the bathroom and vomit up whatever breakfast she had consumed so far.

She got up, trashing nearly everything on her tray, and set it next to the trash can with all the others, and made her way down the hall towards the elevator. The sooner this was handled, the better. She couldn't eat anymore feeling the way she did.

Last night had been a bit of a blur, but fragments of it kept forming in her mind the longer she was awake. The afterparty, leaving early and coming back to the hotel with Ann. Trying to get drinks from the vending machine but continually dropping coins as they tried to put them into the slot. Ordering champagne once they got to Rise's room (Which was certainly not the only alcohol they ingested that evening) and spilling some on the floor. Watching some old movie she was too drunk to remember.

And the kiss. That was perhaps the most prominent memory she had.

She remembered it as vividly as she could after hitting the correct button in the elevator. While her memory was still slightly impaired she remembered certain sensations quite vividly. She remembered Ann's deep, aquamarine eyes that she stared at for what felt like years. She remembered pacing her hand on the girl's arm, feeling how soft she was. She remembered her lips, her breath, her tongue, everything that had to do with touching was a memory that remained easy to access. She had no clue what built up to the kiss, or even if anything HAD built to it. She just knew that it happened, and that both girls passed out promptly before anything else did.

She would've been lying if she said that didn't disappoint her slightly.

She couldn't help it. She'd always been infatuated with Ann. She practically melted when they had first met, Ann was so angelic looking and alluring that Rise almost felt jealousy for the first time in her entire life. She usually developed crushes on people very quickly, but with every interaction she had with her from when they first met, it got harder and harder for her not to blurt out how beautiful she thought she was. Granted, because of their business, she did get away with being able to throw spare compliments at her with reckless abandon and have it come across as a more professional than personal. Ann was always talkative and appreciated Rise's boundless levels of excitement, which Rise loved because many people had found her annoying in the past when she finally felt comfortable expressing herself... but now that was in danger.

She made Ann uncomfortable. She knew it. She had to have made her feel bad, right? It had to be her fault. It must've been. She had been worried about it all morning since she woke up in bed next to her. She knew nothing happened beyond what she remembered, but that didn't change the fact that Ann could've been wildly un-okay with what happened. She had liked Ann for so long, the minute the two of them lost their barriers she gave in to her basest of impulses like she was a child.

There was going to be three months worth left of traveling. Three months of silenced between the two and guilt seeping out of Rise's pores. She wanted to jump out the window they had in their room on the fourth floor. Would that fall even kill her or just severely injure her? Either was preferable. She would suffer enough to satisfy her inner desire to see herself punished and it would get her out of having to deal with the fact that she was a drunken idiot who made out with her friend like she was a teenager. Well, not that she was too far away from that headspace. She was 22, and technically speaking, Ann WAS a teenager, just a teenager in the twilight year of being 19. Rise worried that perhaps the age gap, no matter how small, had proven her to be perhaps taking advantage of poor Ann, which turned her stomach even more to the point where she propped herself up against the elevator wall in the final few seconds she was inside it.

No matter what, she'd take full responsibility. She was an adult, and even though Ann was too (and in many respects, was far more mature than she was) she couldn't use that as justification to feel like she was blameless. She just hoped that whatever the situation was, she could fix it.

The door opened, and she made her way down the hall to Ann's room, the one across from hers, like she was in a funeral march.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rise opened up the door with her keycard, taking Ann by surprise as she expected her to take longer to finish. Ann knew that there was no way she ate everything if she was up there so promptly, and felt bad for not being able to hide how she felt. She felt like she was putting more on poor Rise than the girl probably deserved.

Rise walked in, wide-eyed and visibly a bit fearful, like a child who had been called in for scolding by their parents. Ann didn't want to be seen that way, so she managed a slight smile that Rise saw and returned, if a bit meekly. Ann sat on the edge of the white and pillowy king-sized bed, and patted the space next to her, signaling Rise to sit. She approached her slowly, not saying a word, and sat beside her, a few inches from where she placed her hand out of what Ann only guessed was timidity. The tension in the room was palpable.

"I'm sorry, Ann. About last night," she immediately said while turning from looking at the floor directly to her eyes.

Well, at least she was ripping the band aid off quickly. Ann shook her head.

"No I'm sorry, Rise. I shouldn't be putting all of this on you-"

"Why not? It's my fault," Rise forlornly declared, unable to look at her any longer.

Ann's eyes narrowed.

"What? No, Rise, not at all," she said.

Rise still wasn't looking at her, assuming her denial was just sugarcoating the situation. Against her better judgment, Ann placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention.

"Rise, I mean it. It's not your fault. I wanted to apologize because... well... I shouldn't have kissed you. Drunken or not, it was irresponsible of me. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable,"

Rise looked shocked, almost like she had been punched.

"Hold on a second, I thought *I* kissed *you,"

The two girls suddenly realized that neither of them were sure who kissed who, as they were both fairly certain they were the ones who initiated it, but weren't 100 percent positive.

"Oh... well, I don't know who kissed who, I guess," Ann stumbled a bit, "I-I just know that it was probably not fair to you,"

Rise felt like she was in some sort of strange alternate dimension because none of what Ann said made any sense to her.

"Not fair?"

Ann had never seen her so confused. She felt like grabbing the pillow to her right and screaming into it just because she was so bad at trying to convey how she felt.

"Yeah... I come along on this tour that you're largely responsible for putting together, and I thank you by becoming overly attached and drunkenly making out with you and I-"

For a moment it looked to Rise like Ann might shed a tear.

"-and I kiss you and then I wake up and I'm... disappointed,"

Rise couldn't do anything short of showing Ann a neon sign that read 'please explain further' to further demonstrate her abject confusion.

"... disappointed?"

Ann nodded.

"I woke up and I... Ugh dammit. Please, Rise, don't be angry with me?"

Rise clasped the hand that Ann placed on her shoulder and looked at her, almost INTO her.

"Ann I would never be angry with you. Please just tell me what's going on,"

It was less a command and more of a plea.

"I expected there to be... something more. Between you and I. And I know it's just from one night, and I know we were drunk, and I know that's an unfair weight to place on you, but I felt sad about it and I couldn't hide it. I-"

There was more resistance in Ann again. She didn't get choked up, but she certainly valiantly fought back tears.

"I like you. I have for a while and I guess the first opportunity I saw to act on that with as little barriers as possible, I took that. I don't expect anything from you, and I'll get over it, but I wanted to apologize because I feel I took-"

Ann was cut off entirely by Rise almost lunging forward, immediately kissing her on the lips, taking her by the back of the head with one hand, propping herself up on the other. It didn't last long, but it certainly felt like it did, because neither one of them was in a hurry to end it.

Rise broke it, and backed up a few inches, smiling like she always did. Ann looked like a deer in headlights.

"I like you too, dummy," Rise said with a giggle.

Ann tilted her head slightly.

"Rise if this a joke of some kind-"

The redhead playfully rolled her eyes.

"I'm not joking! I wouldn't joke about something like this. I was trying to apologize to *you* for the exact same thing. I've wanted to kiss you ever since I met you! I just thought that maybe I used us being tipsy to do something I was too afraid to do sober," she said.

Ann was practically speechless. She was so used to guarding her romantic feelings, especially her romantic feelings for other girls. She never even really considered the thought that the feeling was reciprocated.

"So... you're okay with what happened, then?"

Rise's body language felt like it became instantly more animated.

"Okay? Of course I'm okay! You're like the prettiest girl I've ever seen! I love spending time with you!"

Ann blushed. She knew it wasn't possible to blush on the inside but was certain that she was somehow doing it presently. Preparing for disappointment sometimes really did yield benefits for unexpected turnarounds.

"I really like spending time with you too... and uh.. I'm sorry if I got a little handsy last night," she said, prolonging her slight embarrassment.

Rise laughed.

"No apology necessary. I don't even really remember if you were or not. Either way, I don't mind," she said with a wink.

She loved it when Rise did that. The fact that it was a wink implicitly and specifically at Ann made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach.

"So... Everything is okay then? You don't feel weird about what happened?" She asked.

Rise gave her the purest, happiest smile she had ever seen on the girl, which was no small feat.

"Of course not! I just kissed you, very willingly might I add," she said.

Ann didn't know what to say. Not only were her fears not true, the feelings she had were reciprocated. And she had just kissed her! She wanted Rise to smack her to make certain she wasn't dreaming, because if she was, she would've been royally pissed upon waking up, because her confusion, sadness, and fear of losing a friend had suddenly evaporated and been replaced with rapid heartbeats and copious rosy blushes. Though... there still remained a question.

"You're adorable when you blush," Rise said, blushing a bit herself.

The way she said that to her, not with her trademarked vitality and vigor, but with a vulnerable sense of genuine acknowledgment, Ann was tempted to do a reversal and kiss her right then too. She hadn't the slightest clue if Rise even liked girls, and for a while, Ann wasn't sure if Ann liked girls either. She just knew she liked Rise. This level of open affection being displayed by another girl was new... but she could get used to it.

"T-thank you," Ann said, hating how her awkwardness persisted, even though she was 90 percent sure Rise found it endearing, "so can I ask you something?"

Rise was a little caught off guard due to her sounding slightly more serious.

"Yeah sure,"

Ann bit her bottom lip.

"So if you like me... and I like you... what are we gonna do about it?"

Rise chuckled a bit. She took Ann's hand again, caressing it gently.

"Well, Miss Ann Takamaki," she began slightly exaggeratedly, "I've always had this silly little fantasy about meeting someone and falling in love, and traveling the world with them. It always sounded so romantic and sweet, and I know we'll be working half the time, so it's not exactly the same thing, but we've got three months ahead of us where we get to go all kinds of places,"

She leaned in slightly, Ann could feel her breathing.

"If you'd like to make this official and start things off with a globe-trotting secret love affair, and maybe wait a little while for the more particular couple stuff until after this is all over, I think that would be a fun way to start,"

Ann knew a full-blown relationship could have been in danger of being too much for her at the present, so she liked Rise's suggestion of being a bit more casual and easing into things a lot... and the way she described it made it sound positively lovely. A 'secret love affair' sounded simultaneously wholesome and sexy.

"Or," Rise said, invading on her train of thought, "You can tell me I'm getting way ahead of myself and that you're not ready for something yet. I know I sound flighty and weird but... I really like you. And I'm really happy you like me. And I've had a lot of time to think about the kinds of things I'd love to do with someone I care about while we're young and dumb,"

Rise sounded her normal self, but in the second half of what she said, managed to evoke a kind of raw sincerity that Ann didn't often see in her friend.

"No not at all! Actually I was thinking... that sounded really great. In fact it kinda sounds like a dream come true," she said sounding as content as she ever had.

Rise's eyes widened, this time from sheer joy. She leaned in, giving Ann a chaste kiss on the cheek, which still made both girls feel positively bubbly on the inside.

"I promise I will make this the best summer of your entire life," she said with a genuine grin.

Ann couldn't lie, it was basically already the best summer of her life. Rise Kujikawa, who a year ago she knew mostly from billboards and radio hits, had just said she wanted to be in a relationship with her. Life didn't get a whole lot better than that.

Ann didn't even feel self conscious about the way she looked anymore. Her slightly messy hair, disheveled pajamas that were nothing more than an oversized t shirt and flannels, it didn't matter. What DID matter, was that Rise, dressed in almost similar attire save for warmer color tones, looked like an Angel.

"So..." Ann said, temporarily taking her eyes off the other girl, "On days like today, where we don't have to do anything or be anywhere because our flight is tomorrow night, what do two people on a globe-trotting secret love affair do?"

Rise heard the slightly deeper, quieter voice Ann said that in, immediately giving her chills. When Ann's gaze finally met hers again, she saw she had her eyes narrowed slightly and a mischievous grin. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on her part, but Ann was sending some signals that maybe they should take the opportunity to pick up where they left off last night before they passed out.

Just to be absolutely certain she knew what was happening, Rise raised her eyebrows at Ann, casting an anticipatory glance at her. Ann simply gave her a small, if ever so slightly hesitant, nod.

It was Ann's turn to lean in and plant a kiss. She went straight for Rise's almost divinely pillowy lips, which felt like she was kissing silk. Rise almost forgot to breathe. Once she backed up and looked at her, she giggled due to the girl's aggressive blush almost matching her scarlet hair, her widened, gorgeous caramel eyes making her look astonishingly cute.

Rise may have been aggressive when it came to flirting and compliments, but when things were a bit more serious, she was just as skittish as Ann, even if she was equally as excited. She settled into her normal self again after a moment.

"Well, the first thing they do is probably take a shower so they smell a little bit less like Amaretto sours and tequila," she said slightly nervously, rubbing her arm, "and so they don't have nearly as awful bedhead,"

Ann was a little disappointed Rise suggested something less physical, but knew they had all day... and much longer beyond that, and immediately nodded with recognition.

"Your bedhead is cute," Ann said quite casually with the slightest air of confidence.

Rise was elated. She was talking like her normal self again. The barriers were gone. Things didn't have to be unsaid anymore, and Ann was looking more and more like the Ann she knew every with every passing second.

She scoffed.

"Yeah tell that to the paparazzi like a year and a half ago. Made me look like I was going to sell heroin to middle schoolers,"

Ann gave an unexpected laugh at that, and laid back on the bed as Rise stood up, walking over to her bag with her clothes. Ann turned her head to see what she was grabbing.

"You know, if we're going to be doing what I *think* we're doing today, you should probably stick to pajamas," Ann suggested.

Rise paused a moment, stood upright, and then looked at Ann.

"I... suppose you are correct," she said with the tone of voice of someone who was covering up the fact that they felt the slightest bit like an idiot.

Ann looked back up at the ceiling laughing again.

"Don't be mean! I was worried about looking pretty for you," she heard the redhead say, only half teasing.

"You don't have to worry too much about that," Ann said slyly.

Rise giggled as she grabbed body wash and shampoo from her bag and made her way over to the bathroom.

"Much appreciated, but in our line of work my standards are a li-ttle higher for myself," she said with a bit of faux snobbery.

Ann heard the bathroom door click and open, the faint sound of Rise placing her bottles on the marble sink, as well as the light being flicked on.

"Don't use all the hot water!" Ann said, studying the imperfections of the ceiling.

There was a brief silence which confused Ann, the hotel room was still comparatively small when stacked against the kinds of places they usually went, the bathroom door was maybe five or six feet from where she was laying on the bed, so Rise definitely heard her. She wasn't kidding either, she tended to take long showers which literally left Ann in the cold some days. She had half a mind to go and shower in her own room until she sat up, seeing Rise's head poking out of the door.

"Then why don't you get in here and help me save some of it then, dummy?"

Rise tilted her head back in a sort of reverse nod, signaling for Ann to come in. Ann felt a bit dense, taking a full five seconds to fully grasp what Rise was asking her.

"Don't think I was prepared for how much of a flirt you'd be," Ann remarked slyly.

Rise put her hand to her chest and did a fake gasp.

"My lady I take great offense to that! Do you know me at all?"

Ann smiled.

"Point taken... my lady," she said stressing the last part.

She was a little nervous, but wouldn't let it show. Ann was too excited to let some jitters ruin what was about to be an extraordinary day with the most beautiful girl in the whole world.

"Now get In here or I'll drag you!" Rise teased from inside the bathroom.

Ann snapped out of being inside her own head. She couldn't believe how the morning had progressed.

"Coming madame," She answered back trying her best to sound like she was a caricature in a Charles Dickens novel.

"I await your companionship Milady!" She shot back before Ann had a chance to stand up and fully stretch.

"You are so impatient!" Ann said with a hint of laughter.

"Uh when you're involved? Yes. Highly impatient," she shot back teasingly.

Ann didn't know if she was truly, 100 percent ready for this, but she was both excited and very willing, which was enough.

She was, perhaps for the first time in a very, very long time, quite happy without the slightest reservation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
